Without granting any reliefs, the Bombay High Court on Friday, June 2, adjourned till June 7 the hearing of a suit concerning intellectual property rights (IPR) filed by jailed mafia don, Rajendra S Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan, seeking to restrain the release of the new Netflix series Scoop. Vacation Judge Justice Shivkumar G Dige pointed out that the series has already been released on Friday, but issued notice to all the parties concerned for their replies. He then posted the matter for further hearing on June 7
During the hearing, Justice Dige asked Chhota Rajan's counsel Senior Advocate Mihir Desai how it was maintainable as a “commercial intellectual property rights” suit. When Desai replied that his client has a copyright on his image which none can use, the court asked him to amend his suit accordingly to show how it was a matter of IPR.
Netflix’s senior advocate Ravi Kadam argued that the plea was not maintainable, to which Desai countered that everyone’s image in Scoop has been altered barring Chhota Rajan, whose face is shown as the one behind the J Dey murder case. While admitting that his client was convicted in the (Dey) case, Desai said that since his appeal was still pending, he could not be shown as guilty before the world like this.
Chhota Rajan’s lawyer argued that “there are celebrity rights also”, and claimed that celebrity doesn’t only mean a popular person, and even unpopular persons can also be a celeb. Since lakhs are going to watch Scoop, it could pose problems and affect his appeal against the conviction, he contended.
On June 1, the gangster had moved the Bombay HC alleging infringement of his personality rights by the makers of the series and seeking a token damage of Re 1, on the eve of the release of Scoop. In his suit, Chhota Rajan contended that in the trailer of the six-episode Scoop, made by National Award-winning filmmaker Hansal Mehta, he has been referred to by his name, image, voice, and other unrelated things associated with him.
He claimed that the series trailer was released across all media allegedly portraying him as the main mastermind behind the killing of Mumbai journalist, Investigations Editor of Mid-Day tabloid, Jyotirmoy Dey on June 11, 2011. Pointing out that his appeal against the life-term sentence in the Dey case was pending before the Bombay High Court, Rajan said the trial court's conviction order could not be used in a defamatory manner to tarnish his name and reputation, with the sole intention to make profits by any third person, particularly without his consent.
Earlier, the gangster had slapped a legal notice to Netflix and the series producers to stop the release, but they were unfazed and asked to approach the courts with his grievance.
Rajan has sought a stay on the release of the trailer on all media platforms, online or in theatres, permanent deletion of the trailer from all media platforms, restrain the producers and Netflix from directly/indirectly exploiting his name, image and infringing upon his personality rights, not to make any reference about him in interviews or any other mode of public communication and damages of Re 1 or to reveal the true revenues generated by the series.
Watch the trailer of Scoop here: